Ryan A. Hancock

Ryan Allen Hancock is of counsel at Willig, Williams & Davidson and Chair of the firm's Employment Law Group. Prior to joining Willig, Williams & Davidson, he was Assistant Chief Counsel with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, the Commonwealth's civil rights enforcement agency. As Assistant Chief Counsel, Mr. Hancock successfully litigated a wide range of discrimination matters including but not limited to claims of: sexual orientation, religious accommodation, disability race, sex, and denial of employment based on a criminal record. He is the principal author of the Commission's proposed policy entitled Disparate Impact Discrimination Implications Related to a Denial of Employment Based on a Criminal Record. Mr. Hancock received his law degree from Rutgers School of Law in 2003 and subsequently clerked in Camden County Superior Court, Criminal Division for the Honorable David G. Eynon. He co-founded and is currently Board Chair for the Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity (PLSE) and its Criminal Record Expungement Project (C-REP).

Mr. Hancock is the author of The Double Bind: Obstacles to Employment and Resources for Survivors of the Criminal Justice System, 15 U. Pa. J.L. & Soc. Change 515 2011-2012 and has served on the board of Penn Law’s Journal of Law & Social Change. He also served as the supervising attorney for Penn Law’s International Human Rights Advocates (IHRA), was a member of the Bethesda Project’s Young Professional Advisory Board, and co-convened the Drexel Summer Theory Institute at the Earle Mack School of Law from 2011-2013. Mr. Hancock has also been a Part-time Lecturer on Trial Advocacy at Rutgers School of Law from 2016 to the present.

MENTOR, First Judicial District of PA, Steering Committee, 2013-Present

National Employment Lawyers Association

Philadelphia Bar Association

Publications

The Double Bind: Obstacles to Employment and Resources for Survivors of the Criminal Justice System, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Social Change, Vol. 15, 2012. (April 1, 2012) Available for download at SSRN.

EEOC Philadelphia Regional Office – Internal Office of Research Information and Planning (ORIP) – “Disparate Impact Discrimination Implications of a Denial of Employment Based on a Criminal Record and the PHRA,” 2010

Honors

Best Lawyers in America, 2018-present

Pennsylvania Super Lawyers, 2017-Present

Philadelphia's 3rd Senatorial District Community Service Award, 2017

"Pro-Bono Partner of the Month," Public Interest Law Center, August 2015